Responding to cries from collectors around the world, luxury brand billionaire Bernard Arnault has launched a new range of fragrances to benefit those who have been forced to return looted artifacts that they may or may not know were stolen. Dozens of homes in major cities around the world have been mostly empty since the “police woke up”, as an anonymous collector told the the wall street journal, came to take them away. “The person we took it from didn’t even know how much it cost, so why trust him to take care of it,” he added.
“I feel so naked since my favorite stone sculpture of Shiva was ripped from our house by the FBI,” said Strawberry Philbrick, a West Palm Beach-based collector. “Feng shui has been a mess and I zoomed in with my therapist eight times this week.”
Arnault says all proceeds from the sale of the six fragrances will go to a fund called Prodigal Son Compensation Act which will pay collectors for each item with additional payments depending on whether a state, federal or international agency was responsible for the return, and will they have left imprints on expensive carpets, fingerprints on exotic wood finishes, or other inconveniences that exceed the expectations of contemporary plutocratic living.
The six scents shed light on various archaeological and historical sites in Cambodia, Egypt, Italy, Nepal, Peru and Zimbabwe. “You’ll feel like you’re digging into the ground to loot the items yourself,” said a representative from LMVH, Arnault’s luxury brand. Hyperallergic at a press event held at the American Museum of National History’s Sackler Educational Lab.
Each scent will connect you to local smells and cultures in unexpected ways. Giza has notes of Nile waters, myrrh, cotton and authoritarianism, while Adiona incorporates the smell of sweaty Italian workers, Gucci leather belts, olive oil and the imminent collapse of government.
Limited edition fragrances are available for purchase at repatriationchic.com for $25,000 and they will each come with a blockchain certificate and associated NFT.
